Rainy Day

The start of summer brought torrents of showers. Dark cumulonimbus flooded the normally radiant sky and shadowed the vibrant green of the Monotone Woods. A turbid humidity swept along the bottom of the trees.

Caleb sat on a tilting chair with his legs propped on a side table by an open window. He whittled away at a figurine of the Elder Shuang, slowly cutting out the definition of his frayed brown robes.

He murmured to himself, "It's been quiet."

He lightly tossed the knife onto the side table and put up the mostly finished figurine with the rest of his various figurines on the shelf. Over time, his skills improved with his control and attention to detail. Never did he think his crude carvings come so far to be decent look-alikes. He subconsciously nodded in appreciation.

Caleb dropped his legs down and the chair slammed onto the ground. He gazed outside and hummed merrily to himself. Under the dreary dampness of nature, the house Caleb and Amanda built didn't have a leaky roof. They didn't like sopping up wet messes, so their moods improved during the rainfall.

The moderate rain reduced visibility, but he saw the many Fir Trees sag with precipitation. Their branches slogged their heavy weight of water down below every so often. The muddy ground acted as a clinging muck to deer traveling the night. Then, a shadow caught his eye.

He exclaimed, "Oh?"

The shadow dragged their feet through the mud. Their brown hood on their robes sagged around their head, hiding their face.

"Amanda!" Caleb called. "Someone's coming to the door!"

Amanda jolted in her seat. She accidentally snapped the bone needle in her hand.

"Ah, f**k!"

She tossed the shards into a wooden bin and left her sewing on the living room table.

She clicked her tongue and said, "Are you coming?"

Caleb called down, "Yeah! Get the door if I'm not there when they knock."

"Fine!"

Amanda moved the slab of wood from the peephole on the door. She saw the muddy and soggy person arrive at the door. They stood at nearly half the height, looking small and thin in the bad weather. The roof extended enough to stop their body from getting drizzled on.

A small hand poked out from the baggy sleeves and softly knocked the door. A childish voice timidly spoke from under the hood.

"Hello?"

The figure shivered in the cold as Amanda replied, "Hello?"

The hooded figure jumped a step back and then looked up to see Amanda's earthy eyes staring down at them.

"Oh! You scared me!"

Amanda giggled and said, "I'm sorry about that. Did you need something?"

The hooded figured pulled down their wet hood and sighed. The boy's face looked worried, but innocently infantile, like a child hardly in their double digits that wanting to ask for some sweets, but was afraid to be denied. His eyes reflected a rich mahogany color. He sneezed and then sniffled as snot bubble burst on his face.

He shook his head and groaned, "Ugh…"

He rubbed his dripping sleeve across his damp face and more water dribbled down his cheeks.

"Aww…"

Amanda shut the peephole and opened the door.

"Could you take off that dirty robe and put it in this bucket?"

The boy pulled it off and shoved it in the bucket Amanda held. He shivered once more, now completely naked. Amanda shut the door behind him and then put the bucket off to the side.

She crouched down to his level and asked, "Hey, wait, do you have nothing else to wear?"

The boy shook his wet hair and droplets flung onto her face.

"Haaah… I should've expected that," Amanda said, rubbing the water off her face.

Caleb walked down the stairs with some clothes and towels.

"So he's our guest, Amanda? Isn't it late for someone as young as you? To wander the night in the rain?"

He strolled over and dried the boy's dripping body The boy stayed quiet, but his anxious expression disappeared..

"My name's Caleb," he smiled. "We aren't bad people. We just want to know who you should be with now."

"..."

The boy raised his arms and turned around, letting Caleb finish. It was like he experienced this many times. He picked up some clothes and pulled them on, despite their bagginess. Finally, he spoke.

"My name is Sam. I'm in trouble."

"What kind?" Amanda asked.

"Big trouble."

Caleb dried the floor and waved him further in with his free hand.

"Sit down at the table. You must have come a long way. I'll clean this up while Amanda helps you."

Amanda and Sam moved to the living room.

"I bet you're hungry from all that walking."

"No, I'm thirsty."

Amanda gave him a skeptical look, but still got him a cup of water. By the time she handed it to Sam, Caleb finished up and sat down with them.

"So, what's the trouble?"

Sam gulped down the water and put down the empty wooden cup. He stifled another sneeze in his sleeve and gave a small cough.

"The Sho-Tao Con Saviors. Do you know them?"

As Caleb shook his head, Amanda said, "No. Why them?"

Sam nodded.

"They're a secret Cult from the Buddy Tao Sect. They kidnap orphans like me."

Amanda shouted, "Kidnap?!"

Sam nodded.

"Some time ago, the Buddyists searched for a woman. The Cult came here with them. They searched for a new place to stay and new orphans to take. Rumors of Gods living in the Monotone Woods scared away people, so it was a good hiding spot. It didn't help that they thought the Gods gave them a Mandate from the Heavens."

Sam sniveled and sniffled.

"I came from the Zultra Village. I was taken in the night, with my friend, Terry. They promised us a home and the power to control our own destiny. We were stupid. They didn't want to help us out of kindness. They wanted to satisfy their needs."

Sam coughed, glowering steadfastly at the wooden cup on the table. On the plain surface, his memories materialized. Caleb and Amanda looked at him with concern.

"We were nothing but dolls to them. Playthings. Toys! They never cared about us. They only cared about our cuteness."

Amanda scratched her ear and then said, "Seriously? Cuteness?"

Sam banged the table with his small fist. Tears filled his eyes.

"I'm serious! They acted like they were our Uncles. They always asked us to call them Uncle, so we did. We should been suspicious from that alone. But, we weren't because they felt like real family."

Caleb asked, "So what did the secret Cult do?"

Sam took a deep breath and calmed down.

"The Sho-Tao Con Saviors called themselves 'The Protectors of the Young.' They brought in a lot of young boys, from two to sixteen years old. All of us looked very young and didn't have scars.

Every morning, we harvested the Plum Blossoms and played in the falling flowers. At noon, we helped the Uncles steam the Plums, pickle the unripe Plums, make Plum sauce, or make Plum drinks. Before night came, we practiced Tao Linlin Martial Arts.

But if we got permanently disfigured or got too old, the Uncles took them away."

Sam's face turned grim.

"I used to believe my Uncle could never do anything wrong. He picked me up like Dad used to and laughed with me. He gave me hugs and patted my head. He encouraged me each time I messed up and showed me how to be better.

But Terry got suspicious after seeing two of the older boys disappear overnight. When a boy who fell off a ladder and broke his leg, Terry noticed he also disappeared. He told me to watch him break his own leg and see what they did to him."

Sam wiped away his tears.

"That night, my Uncle tucked me in. I waited until I heard him leave. Then, I quietly followed him. He went over to Terry's bed. My Uncle grabbed Terry and used medicine to make him sleep. He brought him to the wagon and left in the middle of the night. Terry didn't come back, so I ran away."

Caleb scratched his head and grumbled to himself. He stared through the slats of the window shutters and into the darkness of the Monotone Woods. Amanda moved behind the boy and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Sam. We will rescue your friend and help those other boys. Just wait until the rain is over. It's late at night, so it's better if you rest for now."

Sam nodded and Amanda held his hand, leading him upstairs.

Caleb broke out of his stupor and went back to the clothes. He left them on the living room table and began cleaning the towels and Sam's robes. Amanda came back down the stairs and returned the clothes back upstairs.

They quietly finished their activities as the nightly rain slowed and thinned.

Amanda continued sewing, but changed the clothing more to Sam's size. As she finished, Caleb hung the washing up to dry above a tub. He came back to the living room and sat across from Amanda.

"Those Elders blabbered our reputation, didn't they?" he asked.

"Yes, but it doesn't look like they were honest about themselves. They can't be the righteous powerhouses, since the Sho-Tao Con Saviors escaped their detection."

Caleb pushed back his chair and put his feet on the edge of the table.

"I know we have to go and stop them, or else more and more boys will find their way here. But, what are we going to do about Sam? What about those other boys? We can't take care of so many young boys. We don't have enough food, and it will take a long time to build enough to house them. Also, who knows what trouble they will cause?"

Amanda shook her head and said, "We have to do as much as we can to help. We are orphans just like them."

Caleb sighed.

"We're not their parents. We can teach them how to survive, but if they all bother us, when will we get time to ourselves?"

Amanda giggled.

"What, are you worried that our alone time will be ruined?"

Caleb stroked his visibly bearding face.

"I'm worried that we won't have any more peaceful days if we raise all these kids."

"Che. We have to treat them like how our parents raised us. If we don't, we'll disappoint their memory."

"I'm worried that these young boys will disappoint us. Who knows what trouble they will get into and then beg us for help."

"That's part of life, Caleb. Sometimes, we have to get involved with other people."

"...I just hoped the time we had together in peace lasted longer than a few days."

"Time doesn't wait for anyone. We'll have to wait and see what the future brings."

Caleb dropped his chair down and leaned forwards.

"I hate how we have so much power, but we still can't control what happens."

"We'll have to get stronger then, hmm?"

Amanda smiled sweetly.

"I guess we do."